Book Review: The Line That Held Us by David Joy

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book tied to your ancestry. Let me explain how this is tied to my ancestry: Without havin...

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book tied to your ancestry.

Let me explain how this is tied to my ancestry: Without having DNA testing or any other type of ancestral information, I feel I can't honestly go too far back into my ancestry. I know many of my family members resided in Appalachian counties, and in fact, many of our family cemeteries are in the Smokies. This novel takes place in Appalachia - somewhere in the Carolinas. Therefore, I considered this novel to be "tied to my ancestry."Brief synopsis: When Darl accidentally kills a man while hunting on private property outside of hunting season, he enlists the help of his very best friend, Calvin. When they go about covering up the evidence and hiding the body, they think the worst of their troubles are their guilty consciences. But boy, are they wrong. The man Darl accidentally killed has a brother, and his brother has a rage growing deep within him.

The Line That Held Us was actually a pretty quick read at just about 250 pages, and for the most part was fairly poetic in prose, however, there were a handful of moments within the book where I had to read a section over a few times because I couldn't comprehend what the author was trying to say - the wording was just very odd at times.

The story was a little overwhelming at times - constantly moving on to what was happening next. But because of the story moving on to the next piece so quickly, the story was concise. It was incredibly visual and at times, haunting and quiet disturbing. I felt the character development was lacking, and there was so much potential that was not taken advantage of. In the story, there are only a handful of characters, who all seemed to grow up together, but their history was hardly touched on in relation to one another or as individuals. Then, the ending felt abrupt and unfinished. I was underwhelmed by the end of the novel, and felt unsatisfied with how it ended.

I liked the relatable pieces of the story, like shopping at Wal-Mart, or stopping at the Dollar General - that's always cool to me. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I felt like something was missing from the plot.

Kayla Whitter is a 20-something INFJ and Hufflepuff. She enjoys reading avidly, binge-watching tv shows, and occasionally venturing out into the world. She can often be found drinking coffee, and eating burritos or Chick-fil-a.

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